Continuous vacuum cleaner for carding engines



y 1950 A. M. CASTELL 2,507,141

CONTINUOUS VACUUM CLEANER FOR CARDING ENGINES Filed July 28, 1947 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 IN VEN T01? 72,6 6. azumq AGENT.

y 1950 A. M. CASTELL 2,507,141

CONTINUOUS VACUUM CLEANER FOR CARDII ING ENGINES Filed July 28, 1947 2 Shets-Sheet 2 III/III IIII/IIIIIIIII JNVENT0R; M 464/5 T/N MAJ/m mA-cAsraL AGENTL Patented May 9 195 CONTINUOUS VACUUM CLEANER FOR CARDING ENGINES Agustin Masallera Castell, Barcelona, Spain, as-

signor to C. A. Constant Card, Barcelona, Spain, a corporation of Spain Application July 28, 1947, Serial No. 764,222 In Belgium June 6, 1947 8 Claims.

The present invention relates to an apparatus for cleaning the card clothing of the card cylinder of carding engines.

In my copending patent application Ser. No. 589,002, filed April 18, 1945, now Patent 2,481,002, issued September 6, 1949, I have described an apparatus for continuously preventing the 010%- ging of the card clothing of the card cylinder of carding engines for cotton and other textile fibers. Said apparatus consists essentially of one or more suction nozzles or analogous devices mounted at a suitable distance such as 1 to 2 mm. from the teeth of the card clothing of the card cylinder and combined with supporting members which permit of a regular and gradual displacement of said nozzles in the one or other direction. One or more outlet conduits are provided for discharging the stripped material onto the feeding lap before it arrives at the feed cylinder of the carding engine. The apparatus is placed at the rear part of the engine above the cover of the licker-in in the space which remains between the licker-in and the curve formed by the flats, and comprises an electro-aspirator.

An object of this invention is to improve the apparatus hereinbefore described by increasing its efficiency and simplifying its construction, and to provide means for ensuring its proper and continuous operation.

Another object is to provide means for adjusting and fixing the suction nozzle in a suitable position.

Other objects and advantages will be apparent from a consideration of the specification and claims.

According to this invention the electro-aspirator of my copending application is replaced by a condenser of special construction, described hereinaiter, communicating with a stationary aspirator controlled by the carding engine itself. Said condenser ensures an efiicient operation for an unlimited period of time provided that slow motion is applied and that all the revolving parts are supported in bearings of plastic materials which do not require lubrication.

The suction nozzle may be provided with adjusting means, in combination with an also adjustable fixed stop, which facilitate its mounting at a suitable distance from the teeth of the carding cloth of the carding cylinder while preventing its direct contact with the teeth.

Other features of the invention may be noted from the following description made with reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawings, showing by way of example an embodiment of the invention.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic view in side elevation of a condenser according to this invention, provided with a suction nozzle;

Fig. 2 is a partly sectional View in side elevation of the same condenser and suction nozzie, taken from a side opposite to that of Fig. 1, showing the gear box without its cover;

Fig. 3 is a view showing certain parts of the apparatus in vertical section on line III-III of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a View showing the suction nozzle and associated parts in vertical section on line IVIV of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a partial view of some details of the apparatus shown in section on line VV of Fig. 1.

The apparatus shown in the drawings consists essentially of a casing or body I having at its upper part a tubular or clamping element 2 cmbracing the supporting rod 3. This rod is arranged parallel to the axis of the carding cylinder in such a way that the apparatus may travel lengthwise of the carding cylinder in the one or other direction as described in my copending application Ser. No. 589,002. The rod 3 is provided with a double thread in which the guiding fork 4 engages under the action of a spring 5. The whole rod 3 is protected against dust by a cover 6 (Figs. 2 and 4).

Inside the casing or body I a drum 8 is mounted upon a shaft 1. The drum 8 is divided, by means of radial walls, in a desired number of compartments 9, for instance eight according to the illustrated example (Fig. 4). The cylindrical surface of the drum 8 is provided with groups of fine radial perforations. The drum is pressed in axial direction by a spiral spring I 4 against the smooth wall I2 of a suction chamber I3 and is driven from the shaft I by means of a feather I5. The wall I2 is provided with a suction port I6, which opens the suction chamber [3 to preferably two compartments 9 of the drum 8, and the suction chamber I3 communicates with a stationary suction source, mounted beside the carding engine, through the outlet 43 (Fig. 1). The box constituting the suction chamber [3 is secured to the casing I of the apparatus by means of set screws I! and is provided with a detachable lid I8. At the end opposite to the suction chamber, the drum has a flange or packing ring I9 of leather or other material, which is located in a corresponding annular groove of the casing I. An effective seal of the drum 8 is secured at its lower part by a flat or leaf spring or a resilient hoop 20 and at its upper part by a fluted roller 2| to which a flat or leaf spring 22 of steel is applied.

The roller 2I is mounted on a shaft 23, which is rockingly or oscillatingly carried by the free ends of two supporting levers 24' and 24" the other ends of which are pivoted to the fixed shaft or cross bar 25. The ends of the roller 2| fit between the walls of the body I of the apparatus and in order 'to maintain a good seal the 'roller is provided inside with an axially slidable member 26 which, under the action of a spiral spring 21, is pressed against the adjacentwall of'the casing I (see Fig. 5).

The perforated drum 8 driven from the supporting rod 3, which rotates tne seranq of the apparatus, in the following way: Before or behind the clamping member 2 a pinion 28 is arranged which engages with an "inner pin 23 a longitudinal groove provided in the rod 3; when the pinion 28 is driven by the rotation of said rod it transmits said rotary motion to the toothed wheel 33. This toothed wheel 36, mounted on shaft 3I, is fixed to a pinion SZIWhichineshes with'a toothedwheel 33 secured to'the shaft 1 or 'the drum'B. Thetoothed wheel 33 has 'a second toothed rim 3 the deep teeth of which'inesh with'th "correspondingteeth'of the pinion 35 mounted on the rockshaft 23 of the roller 2I '(see Figs 2"and' 3). The Wholegear'mechanism is mounted inside a chamber of the body 'I, said chamber being hermetically closed by a lid 36.

The suction'nozzle' comprises the mouthpiece proper 37, which after an initial tapering 'o'f'the inner diameter flares conically and communicates with'theih'side of the body I. "Said inouthpiece ST. is united with a molded plastic member 38 having a threaded cylindrical surface, whichper- I'nit's of screwing it into the corresponding part of thej'b'o'dyl and of exactly adjusting'the'nozzle; mack-nurse is provided'for fixingthe nozzie m is The 'nozzle is combined with a stop-rod 4!), whic'h'itself is adjustable' ina boss 41' provided atthe lower part of the body"! and may be secured? in 'a position ensuring a suitable constant distance of the nozzle dam the card clothing by means of fixing nuts 42.

With the apparatus" thus described the operationfis as followsf It is mounted at the carding engine like the apparatus described in my copending application Sefrffl6{589;(l02, if e. on asuspen'sion rod3'placed a'tj'thj rear, end of the carding engine above the hb'od. of the lickef-inandinthe space between thelicker-i'n' andthe curve formed by the fiatsj thenozzle 3fljpasses through a slot provided in the" coverof the' carding cylinder and is adjusted byim'ear s ora'nut 38fand lock-nut s9 and'a stop-rind 49; 'which'co-operates with said cover itself,'in' such a way that the nozzle is held at a convenient. distance from the teeth'of the cardingf cloth of 'the carding cylinder. 'The pipe 43 is 'eonn'ectedb'y'a flexible pipe or similar means with""a' stationary aspirator, which is mounted beside, anddrive'n by, the carding engine proper.

The apparatus mounted as described hereinbeforeistraversed alternately in the one or other direction along the supporting rod 3 when the latterisrotated, as described in my copending application Ser; No. 589,002. The rotary motion is transmitted over the gears 28, 30, 32, and 33 to theperforated drum 3 and from said drum over the toothed wheel as, and pinion 35 to the fiuted'rocking roller 2I. On the other hand, the suction chamber I3 communicates with a stationary aspirator which produces a vacuum in said chamber through the port IS, the adjacent compartments 9 of the drum 8 and the corresponding perforations II said vacuum brings about a suction in the interior of the body I and therefrom in the head of the nozzle 31. Accordingly, a part of the fibers which are in front of the nozzle 31 on the carding cloth of the carding cylinder will be sucked in the body I, adhere onto the revolving drum 8 and move with said drum in the direction of the arrow indicated in Fig. 4 towards the rocking roller 2 I, which catches them under the action of the spring 22 and expels them to the outside. This expulsion is facilitated by the an; that the compartments 9 of the drum 3, beforev passing through a plane determined by the axes l and 23 of the drum 8 and roller 2I respectively, are blanked off the suction port I6 and remain, therefore, without direct communication with the suction chamber I3. The fibers caught between the drum 8 and the roller 2I serve at the proper time as a packing sealing off the insideof th body I; on leavingthe apparatus they pass through a pipe or over an inclined plane or simply fall down in form of a sliver upon the lap fed to the carding engine. The dust, which might enter through the perforations I I into the compartments 3 of the revolving drum 8, passes to the aspirator and is separated by this way from the useful fibers, which are returned to the feed cylinder. It will be observed on an inspection of Fig. 4 that the radial perforations I; I of the drum 3 are arranged, asymmetrically with respect to the middle axial plane. of each compartment 9 in order to prevent the entry of air through said perforations when the respective. compartment 9 is in front of the expelling roller 2|.

I claim:

1. An apparatus for preventing. the clogging of the card clothing of the card cylinder of carding engines having a suction nozzlemounted on a nozzle-carrying body for entering a. slot provided in, and extending lengthwise of, the cover of the carding cylinder at the. rear part of the carding engine in the spacebetween the licker-in and the curve formed by the fiats, means for supporting said body, and means forreciprocating it lengthwise ofthe carding cylinder, said nozzle-carrying body including a suction chamber communicating with a source of suctionoutside said body, a. revolving drurndiyidedby radial walls into longitudinal compartments and pro vided on its cylindrical face with a group of radial perforations for each of said compartments, means for pressing one end ofsaid drum against the wall of said suction chamber, a suction port in said wall extending over a sector corresponding to at least one compartmentofsaid drum, a sealing packing at the other endof said drum, means for sealing the space betweenthe lower part of saiddrum and the w allofv said body, a rotatable roller mounted for rochingmovement, and means for pressing said, roller against the surface or the drum for the purpose of compacting the fibers collected on said drum and expelling them. A V

2. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein the expelling roller is mounted-on arock shaft supported by the free ends of twosupporting leverswhich at their other ends. are pivotedto a fixed cross bar.

3. An apparatus as claimed in claim 2 comprising an axially slidable member located in an axial aperture of the expellingroller and spring means pressing said member against the adjacent wall of the body for obtaining asubstantially tight seal. V I e 4. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 comprising a supporting rod for the nozzle-carrying body, a longitudinal groove provided in said supporting rod, a pinion provided with an inner pin engaging said groove, a gear mechanism transmitting the rotary motion of said pinion to the drum, a chamber for housing said gear mechanism, and means for hermetically closing said chamber.

5. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein the suction port is so located in the wall of the suction chamber that the compartments of the perforated drum clear said port before they move out of the interior of the body on rotation of said drum, and that direct communication with the suction chamber is cut off before they pass through a plane determined by the axes of the drum and the expelling roller.

6. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 comprising a suction nozzle the inner diameter of which is first narrowed and then widened towards the suction conduit, and means for adjusting the position of the nozzle in the nozzle-carrying body.

7. An apparatus for continuously cleaning the card clothing of the carding cylinder of a carding engine comprising a suction nozzle and a body carrying said nozzle and adapted to be reciprocated lengthwise of the carding cylinder, said body containing a perforated rotating drum divided by radial walls into axially extending com- REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,079,392 Campbell Nov. 25, 1913 1,106,073 Belger Aug. 4, 1914 1,418,908 Clegg June 6, 1922 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 7,525 Great Britain of 1910 

